Spyderco Native 5 Folding Knife: A Reliable, High-Performance Tool for Every Day Carry

Alex G.: Smooth and sharp. EDC you want in your pocket.

United States on Feb 07, 2023

TLC: Beautifully crafted knife. It's very light and is unnoticeable in the pocket. I bought a better quality deep carry clip from MXG Gear that leaves only the clip showing. The knife arrived incredibly sharp and, over the last few months, it has remained that way with light touch ups on a diamond honing steel.

United States on Feb 06, 2023

John Toulouse: This is a fantastic knife. Beautiful utilitarian design, super light, fantastic blade, scary sharp out of the box. The back lock engages with a super satisfying SNAP! Beware though, if you want your knives to be super fidget-friendly. This knife opens one-handed with a thumb slow-roll only — not that that *isn't* fidget-friendly but that's all you get. If you want to Spydie-flick, get the very similar Sage 5 — it uses a compression lock rather than a back lock and can be Spydie-flicked with AUTHORITEH using either thumb or middle-finger. The only other difference is that the blade on this version of the Native 5 is made of Spyderco's proprietary SPY 27, which is not an option for the Sage 5, which comes with S30V.

United States on Nov 15, 2022

MWS: Very well made piece by Spyderco. Blade is sharp AF, and slices paper easily out of the box. I will update review in several weeks/months when I sharpen the SPY steel for the first time. Most reports it sharpens easily and has strong edge retention. We will see. The handles are a love them or leave them kind of thing, but I love the FRN grippiness and overall texture. For me, everything about a knife has to click with my brain. How it feels in the hand. The texture of the handle. The action of it opening and closing, i.e. can I use it as a fidget spinner. This knife checks all those boxes at a reasonable price. Tolerances on the construction and action are highly refined. I always enjoy a well made stainless steel carry clip. The Native 5 is lighter than my Civivi Elementum, despite having a larger overall carry profile. SPY27 is supposed to be corrosion resistant, so I can see this being a good knife in potentially wet environments. Probably enough knife if you are the 3rd mate on a tugboat in Puget Sound, but not enough knife for a full scale survival situation, if that makes sense. Fidget spinner approved!!

United States on Jun 20, 2021

Robert Eisner: I like everything about this knife, especially the steel, except the clip. I bought it to replace a Benchmade North Fork, which replaced a Benchmade Griptilian. The 154 steel of the Grip needed a lot of sharpening. The S30V of the NF is prone to chipping and the thumb studs kept catching on my pocket. My attention was drawn to the Native Lightweight by reviews of the fantastically sharpenable new steel. The texture of the handle is not as pleasing as the NF's but makes a much better tool. I'm getting used to the thumbhole method of opening and I like it. It's not as easy to open and close as an axis lock, but the the NF sometimes came open on it's own just as I was about to deploy it. Not a good thing. The only real problem is that I found the clip so tight that it was a pocket shredder even after I sanded the handle a bit, and I didn't like its shininess nor how high in the pocket the knife rode. A titanium, anodized deep pocket clip off eBay solved the problems. The steel is worth the trouble; Spyderco should offer it in other models.

United States on Jan 16, 2021